This slim, enjoyable book is similar to the best kind of evening news broadcast: short on depth, yet long on charm, and featuring enough compelling anecdotes and interesting facts to inspire further investigation. In Around America, legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite presents a historical tour of much of America's nearly 5,000 miles of coastline. From the helm of his sailboat Wyntje, he offers tales of shipwrecks, naval battles, and navigational near-misses, as well as such memorable quips as "If you are a sailor, it is not a good thing to have a rock named after you." He's obviously much more familiar with the northeastern coast than the other places he describes, but even his enthusiastic, if light, take on the western and gulf coasts makes for pleasant armchair navigating. He also paints a rich montage of the 1,245-mile Intracoastal Waterway stretching from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida, in which he describes both the culture of the waterfront communities he passes and the deep historical significance of the region.

In this engaging book, Cronkite proves that the water need not be deep to be teaming with life, and he offers an amusing anecdote, colorful character, or historical tidbit on nearly every page. At its core, Around America is a labor of love by a mariner in his twilight still happily searching for hidden American harbors. --Shawn Carkonen

A thorough, state-of-the-art overview of all current mainstream, alternative, and complementary methods of fighting cancer, this book is the companion to the four-part series of the same name, hosted by Walter Cronkite, airing on PBS-TV in September 1998.

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Intimate. Revealing. Candid. Published by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Conversations with Cronkite gives readers a rare glimpse into the life and times of Walter Cronkite in his own words. The book contains selections from interviews between the legendary journalist and an experienced oral historianCronkite's friend, Dr. Don Carleton.

With the publication of Conversations with Cronkite, readers have the opportunity to discover the behind-the-scenes stories of his life, edited by Carleton to focus on key events, issues, and themes. More than just oral history transcripts, these are the intimate conversations of two friends, covering virtually every aspect of Cronkite's life and career. Illustrated with photographs and archival treasures from the Cronkite Papers, Conversations with Cronkite gives readers the opportunity to once again hear the voice of "the most trusted man in America."

Walter Cronkite on:

His famous sign off "And that's the way it is"

I didn't clear it with [CBS] in any way. I started using it, and [Richard Salant] said, "This presupposes that everything we said is right, that that's the whole picture of the day's news. I don't really think you ought to be doing that." I think he was correct. But the thing had already caught on. It really was just rolling. So I got to kind of a point of being stubborn about it and said, "Well, I like it." [Salant] said, "Well, it's up to you." He let it go. It has been much criticized by serious television critics . . . because of that argument that . . . it was presumptive that everything we said is correct. Which was wrong. I shouldn't have said that. . . . And particularly when we got into controversial subjects like the Vietnam War. In fact, there's a New Yorker cartoon with a guy coming half out of his chair and shouting at his television, saying, "That's NOT the way it is."

Being a United Press reporter during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II

God, it was cold. We looked like Washington's army at Valley Forge. At one point, the troops I was with entered a town, and we got into a fire fight right away. It was very intense. My driver and I hopped out of our jeep and got in behind a doorway. The Germans were at one end of the main street and . . . it was a pretty good fire fight. I looked up and saw a GI . . . leaning out taking a shot or two. . . . I knew this was a story. I yelled out, "What's your name, soldier?" "Colonel Jones." I said, "Where are you from, what outfit are you with?" He said, "Mr. Cronkite, I'm your driver."

On Fidel Castro

He was fascinated about . . . my war experience. Fascinated about the landings in Normandy. A real war buff. At one point I said, "I've been in a lot of Communist countries, including living two years in Moscow. I have yet to see a Communist country that understood the necessity of maintenance of . . . buildings or anything else." [Castro] threw up his hands and said, "Oh, boy, I know that. It's absolutely terrible." I said, "Well, why is it?" [Castro] said, "First of all, it's inherent in the idea of Communism. People don't own things, so they don't take care of them. That's the answer you capitalists give, but it's true."

Mined from the Associated Press archives, these 167 black and white photos are precious historical treasures, ranging from some of the most celebrated images of the century to rare relics not seen since World War II. They're arranged chronogically, with informatively evocative brief captions, a formal yet moving foreword by war hero/Senator/National WW II Memorial Chairman Bob Dole, and an action-packed, you-are-there introduction by death-defying war correspondent Walter Cronkite. Paging through the book almost serves as an impressionistic, quickie history of the conflict, glimpsed from burning airplanes, submarine periscopes, London Underground bomb shelters, rickety rope bridges, decapitated cathedrals, smoking ruins, and scenes of brutality and tenderness, calamity and tearful relief. The context helps rescue the most famous pictures from cliché: you get more from Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer-winning shot of six Marines hoisting the flag atop Iwo Jima by seeing his pix of the battle leading up to it and by reading that half of those six died without ever seeing the photo. If it is not perverse or disrespectful to say so, many of the images are beautiful as art, in the compositional style of Life Magazine (where some appeared). Nurses perched in midair surreally attempt to clean a bombed hospital room whose walls have vanished. British soldiers march in a line past a line of tall white pillars, Roman ruins that echo their shapes. Churchill appears to levitate a RAF fighter by sheer force of will. Even the grisly pictures of victims manage to respect the dead by means of esthetic and journalistic seriousness. Many pictures capture moments of drama so stunning you can't believe the photographer survivedand many didn't. The photo reproductions aren't glossy, but they're gritty, and that's appropriate. They were news. They still are. --Tim Appelo

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Rich with adventure and anecdotes, Walter Cronkite's longtime love affair with the rugged Northeastern seacoast is revealed in this account of his voyage from Cape May to the Canadian border, enhanced by the stunning watercolors and oils painted by noted marine artist Ray Ellis. Over 100 full-color reproductions.

"Run, don't walk to the nearest bookstore and treat yourself to the most heartwarming, nostalgia-producing book you will have read in many a year."--Ann Landers

"Entertaining . . . The story of a modest man who succeeded extravagantly by remaining mostly himself. . . . His memoir is a short course on the flow of events in the second half of this century--events the world knows more about because of Walter Cronkite's work."--The New York Times Book Review

He has been called the most trusted man in America. His 60-year-long journalistic career has spanned the Great Depression, several wars, and the extraordinary changes that have engulfed our nation over the last two-thirds of the 20th century. When Walter Cronkite advised his television audience in 1968 that the war in Vietnam could not be won, President Lyndon B. Johnson said: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."

Now, at the age of eighty, Cronkite has written his life story--the personal and professional odyssey of the original "anchorman" for whom that very word was coined. As a witness to the crucial events of this century--first for the Houston Press, then for the United Press wire service, and finally for CBS in the fledgling medium of television--Cronkite set a standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion, and insight that is difficult to surpass. He is an overflowing vessel of history, and a direct link with the people and places that have defined our nation and established its unique role in the world.

But Walter Cronkite is also the man who loved to drive race cars "for the same reason that others do exhibitionist, dangerous stunts. It sets us apart from the average man; puts us, in our own minds, on a level just a little above the chap who doesn't race." He is also the man whose "softheartedness knows no rational bounds" and who always had "great problems at the theater, tearing up at the slightest offense against animals and people, notably the very old or the very young." He is the man who could barely refrain from spitting on the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials, and who could barely announce President Kennedy's assassination over the air for the sobs in his throat.

Walter Cronkite helped launch the juggernaut of television, and tried to imbue it with his own respect for quality and ethics; but now he occupies a ringside seat during the decline of his profession and the ascent of the lowest common denominator. As he aptly observes, "They'd rewrite Exodus to include a car chase."

Still, the American people know the difference. They know that for decades they have had the privilege of getting their news from a gentleman of the highest caliber. And they will immensely enjoy A Reporter's Life.

December 1914 was grim for the thousands of soldiers who had dug into the frozen trenches on either side of Flanders Field. What lay between them in the early months of the First Great War was a field of sorrow - No Man's Land - littered with barbed wire and decaying corpses. This sober background is the setting for this very powerful and poignant true story previously known as "The Christmas Truce".

For two days, their guns were silent as men who had shot at each other only hours before experienced a miracle, as they laid down their weapons to exchange gifts and special holiday traditions. This common bond of Christmas was shared in a spontaneous celebration that culminated in the singing of the beloved carol "Silent Night." Almost a century later this amazing story is retold by Walter Cronkite with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in this beautiful Christmas gift book, Beautifully illustrated by Robert T. Barrett. A CD with Walter Cronkite's incomparable narration of the story and the Choir's stirring rendition of "Silent Night" is included with this must-have Christmas keepsake. This book and CD will become a Christmas tradition for families across the country. The book contains Cronkite's narration and so families can listen to the CD as they follow along in the book.

This story of peace on earth is as applicable today as it was then.

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First published in 1998, this book and double-CD set documents, in text, audio and black-and-white photographs, the moments when history, for better or for worse (though usually for worse), was made in an instant. Garner's updated third edition includes segments on the 2000 presidential election reporting fiasco ("the most embarrassing election night coverage since... `Dewey Defeats Truman' ") and the events of September 11 (the collapse of Tower 2 in a "terrifying ballet of twisting, screaming metal"). In addition to the CDs' reports and sound bites dramatically introduced and explained by longtime journalist Kurtis each event gets about four pages of coverage, with an efficient summary and at least half a dozen photos. A smiling, handsome Robert Kennedy on one page becomes a mortally wounded man on the next, while on the CD, reporter Andrew West asks the senator a strategy question, and then "Senator Kennedy has been shot! Is that possible?" he cries. "Is it possible?... Oh my God... He still has the gun, the gun is pointed at me right at this moment! Take a hold of his thumb and break it if you have to!" It doesn't matter that the clips and the photos are old news: from the Hindenburg explosion to the death of Elvis, and from the crumbling of the Berlin Wall to the shooting at Columbine High, these are the kinds of moments that still shock and amaze. This moving book is "a tribute of sorts" to the events that defined eras, the journalists who reported on them and the media television, radio that made us all witnesses.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Stated first edition bound in blue cloth. Oblong, 15 1/4" x 12 1/2" hardcover illustrated in color through-out. A Near Fine copy in a VG+ dust jacket. The dust jacket has chipping at the head of its spine. Mild soiling to the rear panel. Rubs along the upper edges of the panels.